Ericsson files suit against Samsung for patent infringement

Ericsson, the Swedish telecom network equipment maker, on Tuesday announced that it filed suit [press release, PDF] against Samsung [corporate website] in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas [official website] for patent infringement. The suit follows a disagreement between the two companies for the renewal of licenses for telecommunications patents. The negotiation lasted for nearly two years after which Samsung ultimately refused to agree to sign the license agreement on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. Ericsson claimed that legal measures are unavoidable given the lack of mutual agreement despite its honest efforts "to amicably come to an agreement with Samsung and to sign a license agreement on FRAND terms." On the other hand, Samsung alleged that Ericsson demanded excessively high royalty rates for the renewal of the license agreement. Samsung had entered into a license agreement with Ericsson in 2001 which was renewed in 2007.

Samsung has been involved in numerous patent infringement lawsuits, especially with Apple [corporate website]. Earlier this month, a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] ruled that Apple and Samsung may each pursue additional patent infringement claims against the other, allowing each company to add devices brought to market after the original lawsuit was filed in February. In October the Dutch Rechtbank's-Gravenhage [official website] court ruled that Samsung did not infringe [JURIST report] on an Apple software patent. In the same month, a UK court also ruled that Samsung did not infringe [JURIST report] on an Apple design patent. In the same time frame Apple appealed [JURIST report] a Tokyo District Court ruling which dismissed the company's claim that Samsung had infringed on its patents. At the beginning of October, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [official website] reversed an injunction [JURIST report] against Samsung that prevented it from selling its Galaxy Nexus product. Earlier in August, Apple won a $1.05 billion judgment [JURIST report] in the Northern District of California against Samsung involving other patent infringements.

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